1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing suede-like woven fabrics, and more particularly to a method for manufacturing a suede-like woven fabric which exhibits a superior resiliency and superior bulkiness, in which an ultrafine filament yarn, which contains sea and island components having considerably different solubilities in alkali, is mixed with a hollow, highly-shrinkable yarn having a greater thickness than the ultrafine filament yarn. The mixed yarn is used as warp and/or weft, thereby obtaining a grey fabric which is then treated to eliminate easily-soluble components from the ultrafine filament yarn. After completing the micronization, the grey fabric is subjected to a continuous process including a sanding treatment and a dyeing treatment.
2. Description of the Background
Woven fabrics made of micro fibers having a monocomponent yarn thickness of not more than 1 denier have been widely used for clothing, because they exhibit many positive effects such as a smooth touch, softness, good drapery, mild and peculiar brightness effects, a warm feeling, and writing effect, etc.
In order to improve the touch of such woven fabrics used for clothing, various fiber micronizing methods have been proposed which utilize direct spinning or the physical and chemical characteristics of polymers. However, the fiber micronizing method utilizing direct spinning is difficult to apply to the commercial production of woven fabrics, because it is difficult to achieve practical process control for ultrafine filament yarns exhibiting a thickness of not more than 0.1 deniers.
Fiber micronizing methods utilizing the physical and chemical characteristics of polymers include a method involving conjugatively spinning polymers having different interfacial characteristics and then laminating and dividing them by an agent, and a method involving conjugatively spinning a polymer containing an easily-soluble component and a polymer containing a difficulty-soluble component and eliminating the easily-soluble component. Typically, the latter method is applicable to sea and island fibers. This method is also applicable to solution-divided micro fibers.
A variety of woven fabrics are commercially available which are manufactured by mono-component yarns made of laminated and divided micro fibers produced in accordance with the fiber micronizing method utilizing the physical and chemical characteristics of polymers, thereby exhibiting a peculiar surface effect. In this method, however, it is difficult not only to obtain a uniform interface between polymers having different properties at the spinning step, but also to micronize fibers to a certain thickness. After division, the fibers exhibit a degraded flexibility. Furthermore, divided fibers having different properties exhibit different dyeing exhaustion characteristics. In the case of woven fabrics manufactured by mono-component yarns made of micro fibers, it is difficult to obtain a suitable bulkiness.
On the other hand, ultrafine filament yarns made by eliminating one component can exhibit a very soft touch, because they can be micronized to a thickness ranging from 0.01 deniers to 0.001 deniers. However, such micro fibers exhibit a greatly reduced strength after eliminating certain components. The tearing strength is also degraded.
Recently, other methods have been proposed, in which micronizable ultrafine filament yarns are mixed with yarns exhibiting a high shrinkage rate. An example of such a method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. Heisei 3-59167. In accordance with this method, soluble type divided fibers are mixed with yarns exhibiting a high shrinkage rate so that they are used as warps of a woven fabric after being processed. In this case, however, a slippage defect occurs at the surface of the woven fabric if the eliminating rate of the easily-soluble component is larger than 30%. This results in a limited application of the products.
Another method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. Heisei 2-259137. In accordance with this method, soluble type ultrafine filament yarns are pretwisted along with yarns exhibiting a high shrinkage rate and then treated by an air jet texturing instrument to form loops and bulkiness in the raw yarn. In this case, it is possible to obtain improved fiber opening. However, the presence of loops or bulkiness in yarns in the raw state may cause a problem in workability at the preparation and weaving steps. This method also needs a separate air injection device.
Where ultrafine filament yarns are used as effect yarns for different-shrinkage mixed yarns, it is required to increase the covering rate of the ultrafine filament yarns so that the effect of the ultrafine filament yarn exhibited at the surface of the woven fabric can be maximized. The covering degree of ultrafine filament yarns can be increased by using a method for increasing the weight portion of the ultrafine filament yarn in the raw state, namely, the mixed ratio of the ultrafine filament yarns in the different-shrinkage mixed yarns or by using a method for changing the structure of the woven fabric. Where the weight percentage of the ultrafine filament yarn in the raw state is too high, the final woven fabric exhibits poor elasticity. In this case, degraded anti-drape stiffness and stiffness characteristics are exhibited. Such a phenomenon becomes severe in the case of soluble type micro fibers having a high eliminating rate. In this case, the phenomenon results in a wrapping defect of fabrics in sewed goods and the phenomenon that fabrics in contact with each other tend to become attached to each other. As a result, the applicability is very limited.